(Recasts first sentence to reflect closing arguments, adds
details of trial and background on case)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec 6 (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the
murder trial of a white nationalist said on Thursday the
defendant was motivated by hatred when he drove his car into
crowd of counterprotesters last year, while the defense argued
that he was fearfully reacting to a violent environment.

Asking a Virginia jury to find James Fields guilty of murder
and nine other charges, prosecutor Nina-Alice Antony said the
21-year-old defendant had no reason to be fearful, and that he
came to the rally from Ohio intending to harm others. Fields
could get a life sentence if found guilty of the murder charge.

"At the end of the day, it comes down to his intent,” Antony
said, summing up her case in the Charlottesville Circuit
Courtroom after jurors had heard a week of testimony.

She cited evidence presented earlier that Fields had
exchanged cellphone text messages with his mother suggesting the
counterprotesters would "need to be careful," and sent her an
image of Adolf Hitler.

Defense attorneys never disputed that Fields was behind the
wheel of the Dodge Charger that sent bodies flying when it
crashed into a crowd on Aug. 12, 2017, killing counterprotester
Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring 19 others.

Instead, they suggested he was intimidated by a hostile
crowd and acted in self defense.

"James' actions were impacted by everything else that was
going on,” defense attorney Denise Lunsford told the jury in her
closing arguments.

Fields, who did not testify in his defense, was one of
hundreds of white nationalists who descended on Charlottesville
for a weekend protest against the planned removal from a public
park of a statue honoring the U.S. Civil War-era Confederacy.
The rally also drew counterprotesters.

Defense attorneys had put on testimony from other attendees
of the "Unite the Right" rally who said they had been threatened
and seen others pepper-sprayed by the counterprotesters.

Also testifying was Dwayne Dixon, a member of the left-wing
group Redneck Revolt, who said that with an AR-15 rifle over his
shoulder, he told Fields to leave the area about 30 to 60
minutes before the fatal car-ramming incident two blocks away.

Asking the jury to find her client not guilty of all
charges, Lunsford said when he was arrested, Fields told police,
"I’m sorry I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I thought they were
attacking me.”

After his arrest, Fields broke down in tears at the police
station upon learning he had killed someone, according to video
shown to the jury.
(Reporting by Gary Robertson in Charlottesville, Va.
Writing by Peter Szekely
Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis)